Technical Services

Technical Services comprises the backbone of the Library. This vital department oversees the selection of resources for our many collections, as well as their acquisition, cataloging, and processing into the collection.

Resource Selection

Materials are selected for acquisition by the library by the Resource Selection Committee (RSC) according to the Library Collection Development Guidelines. The RSC also sets annual budget allocations for matieral types, reviews the purchase of any single item costing more than $250, and develops spending plans for grants, cash gifts, or any other outside funds. The RSC includes the Dean of the Library, the reference faculty, and the staff heads of library departments.

Acquisitions

Acquisitions orders materials selected for purchase by the RSC, as well as all reasonable special requests from faculty, staff and students. Acquisitions also administrates the Yankee Book Peddlar, a profiled selection service that provides newly published academic material to the library as quickly as possible. Acquisitions receives any materials that are gifted to the library collection.

Cataloging

Cataloging is responsible for the maintenance of local and national databases, the cataloging of library materials, and assigning subject headings and call numbers. Cataloging follows conventions published by the Library of Congress Cataloging Directorate and OCLC Tools for Serials Catalogers. Trust me, it's not quite as glamorous as it sounds. Our purpose can be summed up by misquoting the inimitable P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves: "We endeavor to give satisfaction."

Processing

We are the library department that prepares new books, serials, audio, film, video, DVDs, games,cd-roms, government documents and software for circulation or use in the library. We add barcodes, spine labels, and security strips, make catalog records for new library materials, and make minor book repairs. We maintain the accuracy of our library catalog including links to Internet websites. Though we serve library users indirectly, we hope our work makes it easier for you to enjoy using The Evergreen State College Library.

Gifts

The Evergreen library welcomes selected gifts that enhance our collection. Librarians review the gifts prior to adding them to the collection. Gifts become the property of the Friends of the Evergreen State College Library once they are donated. Donors can specify whether they would like to have their donated materials, which are not retained, returned to them, discarded or left to the library's discretion. Left to the library's discretion, gifts are either donated to another local library, discarded if in poor condition, or sold. Proceeds from sales go into the general fund of the Friends of the Evergreen Library.

Federal tax regulations prohibit us from giving appraisals of material donated to the library. We do, however, acknowledge the number and type of material donated at the donor's request. To ask a question about our gift policy, or to donate gifts, contact Shelley Swelland, Head of Library Acquisitions.